Free About the Night by Anat Talshir

Kizil Irmak—until the bath filled with water and frothed with a scent of jasmine. Then she sank down into the water and listened to her heart echoing, her eyes closed against the candlelit room.
    When the water began to cool, she opened her eyes, slowly stood to her feet, and wrapped her body in a thick white robe. Thinking of Elias on the other side of the wall awakened all her senses.
    Just then, he entered her room—clean, barefoot, wearing light clothes. “It’s lucky you didn’t lock the door,” he said, handing her a cold glass of lemonade.
    She tightened the belt on her robe and clinked glasses with him. “What wonderful timing for our trip,” she said.
    “Our first trip,” he corrected her. He was leaning on the doorpost, swooning from her smell and her freshness. Only a bathrobe separated them, a single knot in a belt.
    He picked up a towel and with gentle movements began drying her hair. He was standing behind her; however, he did nothing in haste or eagerness. He dried her back, too, by patting her robe.
    Nothing of what they had endured—the long sea journey, the fatigue, the tension, and the uncertainty—had seeped into the room. Her back still to him, she closed her eyes, excited and full of yearning, the thick robe unable to deflect the heat rising from his hands. He untied the knot and let the robe fall to the floor. All he could see was her backside, her hips, and her legs, and they were even more beautiful than he had imagined.
    He gathered her into his arms, brought her to the bed, and lay down next to her, fully clothed, face-to-face. He caressed her neck and shoulders. His fingers fluttered over her face, her cheekbones, her nose, her chin. They tarried over the depression above her mouth. At first, he pressed his lips to hers and felt them opening to him, and only then did he deepen his kisses, encountering her wonder. She was desirous, hungry, but she let him lead their slow movement, one toward the other.
    Through the wooden slats on the windows, the light from outside changed and softened, stippling the white ceiling. Elias moved his head away and looked at her as she had never been looked at before. He was steeped in the longing, wonder, and restraint of someone enjoying the moment, ripe with anticipation, grateful for the beauty his eyes were taking in.
    In those eyes, she found what she had been searching for these long weeks. She saw that he had been utterly and unconditionally vanquished and that the effect her presence had on him was volcanic. He rose to his feet, removed his clothes, and stood before her, flushed and desirous. The silvery light from the window slats played on his body as he stood above her in his nakedness.
    She handed her passion to him, her breathing quiet and hesitant, and she wished to trap this moment, with him so close, lustful and seductive and on the verge of consummating their love. And still he stood just a touch away but not touching, trembling at the sight of her beautiful face and body. She moved her thighs on the white sheet, inviting him, and he lay down beside her, a mere fraction of an inch separating her nakedness from his.
    She trembled in the most wonderful sort of anticipation when he touched her back, as she lay in sensual repose, her arms alongside her head. He trailed his fingers across her face and could feel the storm in her body, how she wanted him. Then he drew his lips to her mouth, near but not quite touching it. She reached out for him, and the feel of her arms around his neck changed everything, this single touch pulling him away from the slow path he had been taking, and bringing him to her.
    Now he pressed himself into her body with all of his own, their flesh experiencing the burst of pleasure—skin-to-skin, scent-to-scent—that is unique to a first encounter.
    Beneath him, he could feel her body, aflame and aroused and cradling into him as he passed his mouth and nose over every one of her curves, for the first time touching her